The TUF house has reached a Heathers-level of cliquey-ness. You got the Bible thumpers, the card players, and the dudes with anger issues/crazy hair/dark skin. And hey, you know who Akira Corassani doesn’t like? That bitch-ass Bryan Caraway. “He’s like a little girl,” Akira says. “He wakes up in the morning, he takes like 25 minutes to make his hair.”

So, Akira sneaks into Bryan’s bedroom in the middle of the night and shaves off a piece of his hair. Caraway chases him to an upstairs balcony, where Akira is giggling with his bros. Instead of brawling with the whole gang, Bryan threatens non-specific vengeance sometime in the future. “Y’know, what we do in life echoes in eternity, and this right here I’m going to laugh about my whole life,” Akira says, COMPLETELY MISSING THE POINT OF GLADIATOR. Look, spoiler alert, Akira gets choked out at the end of this episode and it’s awesome. Sorry guys, I had to.

Back at the gym, the fighters who have been eliminated from the competition are losing their focus, while the remaining eight semi-finalists are turning up the intensity. Mayhem rides a tiny bike to practice to avoid getting his car messed with, but Team Bisping has something else in store for him. As Tiki explains, ”We don’t want them to focus on training the guys, we want to them to focus on, ‘oh, what prank are they gonna play next?’”

Tiki and Bisping create a diversion, acting like assholes in Team Miller’s prep-room. When the orange team finally tries to exit the room, Bisping blasts ‘em with a fire extinguisher. Out of the haze comes a Mariachi band. Watching at home, Cain Velasquez sheds a single tear. The fighters evacuate, hacking their lungs out. Miller gives props to Bisping for the prank, but the gym is destroyed, and Johnny Bedford has a fight coming up, so not everybody can laugh it off so easily.

Dennis Bermudez ain’t the brightest bulb in the box. (He’s a “fufessional,” you guys.) Akira draws pictures of him as a wise owl, quoting his malapropisms and barely coherent catchphrases, which he posts on the refrigerator door.

Akira and Dennis will be kicking off the featherweight semis, and Team Bisping is drilling Akira on ground escapes to help him prepare for his wrestling disadvantage. ”Dennis wants to hold me down for 15 minutes,” Akira says. “Congratulations. First of all, you’re a big pussy.”

Bisping’s love of pranks has infected his whole team, who are now focused on pranking him. First, Akira ambushes Bisping with a squirt of water from the bathroom. Bisping responds by kicking the bathroom door open. He thought it was a Team Mayhem member, so…false alarm. Later, Marcus Brimage jumps on Bisping’s back, rubs his wet jock strap in the Count’s face, and runs away. Bisping retaliates by slamming Akira on the ground, wrapping the jock strap around his head, then slapping him around. Again, this is the guy who has to fight next for Bisping’s team. But Akira’s a good sport about it: “I think me and Darkness are blood brothers now because I actually had to taste his salty balls.” There’s a silly string incident later, but I don’t have the energy to get into it.

Bermudez doesn’t like Akira’s series of owl portraits. “Let me draw you a picture…with my fists,” he tells us. He never intends to hurt his opponents in fights — he just tries to win — but that might change. Raising the tension, Akira sings Dennis an improvised song about their fight which is as insulting as it is soulful.

Okay, final pre-fight thoughts: Dana White thinks Akira is cocky, and maybe a little crazy to call out Dennis. “I think Akira might have bit off more than he can chew,” he says. Jason Miller says he respects Michael Bisping: “He’s a seasoned fighter. That being said, I really respect my father, and it never stopped me from whipping his ass.” Akira visualizes the fight the night before, in his own werid, cocky way. “I’m a black belt in fucking people up, you know what I’m sayin’?” he says. “I’m gonna show that European fighters have it all.”

It’s go time…

Round 1: Akira lands first and stumbles Dennis. Dennis tries to respond with a takedown but Akira sees it coming and punches him off. Akira catches a leg kick and lands a counter-punch. Akira sprawls and brawls. It turns into a dog fight. Akira lands two hockey-punches. They clinch up and trade knees. Leg kick and clinch from Dennis. Akira separates and opens fire with punches. Bermudez gives one back. They slug at the center of the cage. Akira scores with a right straight and hook. Dennis shoots and fails. Dennis misses another takedown and pays for it. Akira coming forward and landing. He drops Dennis with a big left. Dennis shoots for Akira’s legs, lifts him, and slams him. He sets up a guillotine. Call me crazy, but it seems that Akira taps and Herb Dean misses it…again. But Dennis stays on it, re-adjusts the hold, and gets Akira to tap, and this time it’s unmistakable. Dennis Bermudez is going to the featherweight finals.

Akira is confused and very emotional after the loss. He brushes off the doctor who needs to check him out, and everybody else who tries to console him. He just wants to be held by Michael Bisping, and hear that it’s going to be okay. But it’s not. On the bright side, a performance like that probably punched his ticket to the TUF 14 Finale prelims.

Dennis says that a fortune cookie predicted his victory. Akira says that he’s going to go home and crack a beer, but as we all know, ”the loser’s beer doesn’t taste as good as the winner’s beer.” Especially if the loser is drinking Kaliber, which tastes like straight dogshit, as I found out by accident last summer. Long story.

On the next episode: Air hockey, bug eating, and the first bantamweight semifinal between Dustin Pague and TJ Dillashaw.

Cagepotato Comments

Showing 1-25 of comments

Is it just me or does Akira resemble that dude from BackStreet Boys? Their singing skills are about the same

zhangii- November 10, 2011 at 3:15 pm

http://50.gd/1k

aaronb- November 10, 2011 at 1:53 pm

Only guy in history that taps 4 times in 2 fights and has a 1-1 record to show for it.

I think we need Akira vs. Aldo or Akira vs. BJ Penn at the finale.

NinjaVanish- November 10, 2011 at 1:47 pm

lol I meant to say I don't want to see this clown again after the show. The first post implied that we had.... relations?

NinjaVanish- November 10, 2011 at 1:39 pm

and count me amongst the crowd who saw not one, but two brazilian taps that fight. Fuck you akira

NinjaVanish- November 10, 2011 at 1:36 pm

Akira just wanted someone to have a huge bald spot like he does. Except Bryan probably didnt spend a full 3 days before the show trying to find a hat to cover that shit up.

Any fighter who feels the need to dig his forehead into people's faces during the weigh ins is a bitch. Yet he does it at every weigh in.

Akira is so insecure it's hilarious, everything about him screams the sort of bitch who loves to run his mouth instead of put forth hard work and train. Black belt in BJJ? Really looked like it with that complete lack of ground game. Complete disrespect to everybody around him. I really don't want this fucking clown again after this show.

jfjjfjff- November 10, 2011 at 12:09 pm

and sorry for the spamming now, but all of those pranks were lame as fuck. HURRR LETS SPRAY EVERYTHING SO WE CANT TRAIN. OMGAWD GUYS, SILLY STRING! RUN!!!! what are you, 8?

jfjjfjff- November 10, 2011 at 12:03 pm

btw, compliments on another hilarious writeup. +1 for the heathers reference.

jfjjfjff- November 10, 2011 at 12:01 pm

add me to the ranks of people who saw two brazilian taps.

NomadRip- November 10, 2011 at 10:30 am

I saw the Brazilian tap twice too @aaronb.
-
48 minutes into the show I was finally able to look up from my solitaire game and watch a damn fight.

aaronb- November 10, 2011 at 10:25 am

Akira tried that fake tap twice while he was in that choke. Karma is what caught him in that choke.

ThePeoplesTroll- November 10, 2011 at 10:24 am

im impressed by the amount of full on punches dennis bermudez can take, fall over and keep fighting afterwards. i know these guys are 145 but still its pretty funny. i thought he was KO'd in every one of his fights but he gets right back up and shoots. tough kid.
and LOL at akira hugging bisping like he's his mommy.

Gladheateher- November 10, 2011 at 10:16 am

Brazilian tap for the LOSE!
Finally. Thank god Denis was near Mayhem during the choke otherwise it might have been a controversial season.

keepyahguessing- November 10, 2011 at 10:15 am

Akira is the only guy to lose 3 times in two fights yet still have a 1-1 record in the TUF gym

mtcage- November 10, 2011 at 9:47 am

am i the only one that was weirded out and uncomfortable when akira was holding bisping for an extended amount of time and burying his head in bisping's bosom like he was his mommy? wth! and, all this coming from a guy that's raised in violence and who's gonna die before quitting and blah blah blah. i hope he's embarrassed as hell. it's payback for the dick move on shaving Caraway's hair. what a punk

Ogre- November 10, 2011 at 9:46 am

I didn't see the episode so I don't fully understand the context of the situation but if he wasn't intentionally providing slapstick comedy that fall was insanely exaggerated.

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HardKnockLife- November 10, 2011 at 9:14 am

The choke was pretty enjoyable to watch, but not as satisfying as watching him need to be consoled by the Count! *sob sob* "Am I out of the tournament coach? Hold me and tell me you still love me."
I want to see a gif of Akira's shaky hand tapping well before the final breack and hear his explanation for that shit... maybe its Parkinson's?

BigWhiskey- November 10, 2011 at 9:01 am

Yeah, I think Akira is really scared. He talks tons of trash and taps 3 times in 2 matches after saying "I'd rather die than lose."

If someone had used a permanent marker on his face to draw a mustache or shaved his face, he would have been crying like the world was ending. Unfortunately, they'll probably bring him back on the finals. I wouldn't mind if he didn't have such holes in his game.

ThePeoplesTroll- November 10, 2011 at 8:44 am

Caraway is coming off looking like a complete bitch. but its TV I won't judge him until after he fights diego. But if someone cut my hair like that i'd completely flip out. Also, Akira already has a permanent bigger bald spot on his head. Akira talked too much smack and got embarassed, who woulda thunk it.

I don't think I've seen someone react so...oddly, I guess, to getting choked out like Akira did. Isn't it ironic that the man who spends his time drawing owl pictures woke up wide eyed and asking, "Whoo, whoo?"

Pen Fifteen- November 10, 2011 at 7:10 am

That completely out of context quote from Gladiator reminded of a time in college when this guy I knew responded to a hilarious put-down with, "you're more of a bitch than a bitch!" The fact that he was a 5'6" Jewish kid apparently did not register with him when he decided to start popping off Dr. Dre lyrics.